Is Freelancing Right for You?” Questionnaire

Having read “Is Freelancing Right for You?” piece fromMediaBistro.com’s Get a Freelance Life by Magit Feury Ragland, youwill answer the following prompts in short answer form (3 – 4sentences / Paragraph form) and post on your blog.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of working independently?
You can be your own boss and work whenever you want which is good. However, you do need to motivate yourself and make sure that you meet your deadlines or else you may not get a paycheck. If you work too much you will also lose your social life entirely so you need to make sure that there is balance.

How does your occupation/ position/ or status affect your potential opportunities or career direction?
If you know a lot about your field already then that is very beneficial to you because publishers will feel more comfortable hiring you as an expert. Also, if you have connections to people in that field already then it will be easier to find a publisher.

How does the frequency or infrequency of payment from freelancing affect t the budget of a writer?
Freelancers do not always have a steady paycheck so they need to make sure that the money they do have can last them for a while incase they do not get a check for a while. If they just go out and spend their money, they may have a problem paying their rent or mortgage as opposed to if they had saved their money.

How do flexibility, organization, and discipline affect a freelancer’s capacity to research, generate and produce quality work?
If they are organized it will be easier to write their piece because they will have everything in one place and will be able to figure out a good order for it. If they hand in sloppy work that is completely unorganized then the publisher will belive that they are unprofessional and are not likely to hire them again. They also have to make sure that they work on their projects and get them done in time instead of procrastinating and missing the deadline which does not look good for them in the publishers eye.

How does one’s expertise or ignorance affect a freelancer’s choice of assignment?
If they know a lot about their assignment they article will come out better. It will also be more respected because the information in it will be from a trusted expert. If you don't know anything about the field you are trying to get into its better to ease yourself into it so that people will hire you.

Should you say no to an assignment? Why or When (at what point)?
Yes, if you take on too much work it is likely that you will become overwhelmed by it so it is usually better to not take too many assignments just because you think you can. If you need the work then its probably a good idea to take the assignment.

What Pique’s Your Interest?
music and pop culture

What have you liked lately?
hanging out with friends, watching TV and movies, listening to music

If you need some help here, ask yourself these questions:
Do you have a new favorite Hobby, TV show, book, type of music, film,website?
lately I've become more obsessed with It's Always Sunny in Philidelphia (my new favorite show, its just awesome), the Twilight series, Nick and Norah's Infinate Playlist (it's not out yet but I desperately want to see it), and the website http://www.slacker.com/ which will make a free radio station of artists you like and other artists like them.

What are your pet peeves?
obnoxious people, overly cocky people, being left out of conversations, people screwing up rides home so that i get back past cerfew and my mom yells at me, fake people, and COOOOOOOOOkie crisp!

What makes you really angry?
see above + arguing about politics, George Bush (and Republicans with similar ignorence)

What things in the world do you really wish you could change?
we would be out of the war, I would be able to go vegitarian without a problem and people would get off drugs

What people, places, and ideas are in the news at the moment?
Barack Obama and Sarah Palin are always in the news these days
Travis Barker is in the news because he was in a plane crash but is doing well.

Are there any events coming up in the next six months or in the nextyear that are sure to be newsworthy and that you can get the jump on now?
hmmm well theres always TV shows premiering, new CDs coming out, new movies, concerts, dances, and the elections (obviously).

What’s new in your city?
There was an election not long ago but not much changed because McKee is still the mayor.

What’s new in your school?
the rededication ceremony and the tours to show off the new and immproved highschool are definately big for us.

What’s new in your immediate neighborhood?
someone my brother is friends with is now moving into the house behind mine

What’s new with your family?
My dad's birthday is coming up and im going to be making my Confirmation (finally!) in October.

Is your generation, ethnic group, or racial group facing changes,hardships, or freedoms that have not been addressed in the past?
Yes, the graduation requirements at our high school are a subject of much complaint from the student body.

Assignment #1

1. Who: Kanye West
What: arrested
Where: LAX
When: Thursday
Why: he fought with photographers and smashed a camera
How:
http://www.google.com/reader/view/?tab=my#search/kanye%20west%20arrested/3

2. who: Apple
what: releasing "interactive albums" application offering artwork, lyrics, and behind-the-scenes images for iphones and the ipod touch
where: everywhere
When: within the next month
Why: they wish to continue to offer more reasons for people to get the iphone and the ipod touch
How: the interactive albums can be reached through a downloadable application
http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/01/apple-set-to-release-interactive-album-applications-for-snow-p/

3. Who: Tom Brady
What: out for the remainder of the season dude to an injury
Where: Foxboro, Massachusettes
When: from this past Sunday through the remainder of the season
Why: he tore his ACL after being hit in Sundays game
How: he was hit during Sundays game
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=456693

4. Who: Kim Jong Il
What: did not attend a military parade
Where: Pyongyang, North Korea
When: Tuesday
Why: he may have suffered a stroke
How: his health has been speculated recently already
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-kim10-2008sep10,0,7264304.story

5. Who: Apple
What: releasing new iTunes 8, ipod touch and ipod nano
Where: announced at the "Let's Rock" event
When: recently
Why: to offer updated versions of their popular products of the past
How: by selling new versions of them
http://gizmodo.com/5047948/the-complete-story-on-apples-lets-rock-event

links

http://cnn.com
http://cspan.org
http://www.capitalnews.org/
http://msnbc.com
http://npr.org
http://foxnews.com
http://projo.com
http://bbc.co.uk
http://nytimes.com
http://wpri.com
http://turntoten.com
http://wgbh.org
http://fox64.com
http://usnews.com
http://abc.com
http://nbc.com
http://cbs.com
http://itn.co.uk
http://motherjones.com
http://reuters.com
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/

About Me

i'm allie and this is 4 my journalism class